Jones and Ridsdale respond to media flak

If there are two sad facts of life following Cardiff City, it is that a couple of mindless morons will always let us down from time to time despite the never ending endeavours of the club and supporters and that when it happens, you can always rely on the British media to give us a right good kicking in a way they tend to avoid for others.

The fact a ref was hit by a coin thrower was bad enough, the match being on tv made it 10 tens worse but the incident being Cardiff City was enough to get Talksport, Real Radio, Sky Sports Politicians, controversial former refs, newspapers (yep, everyone sensationalist) and Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all at their most vitriolic over the past couple of days.


The incident sickens all true Cardiff fans but those same supporters have felt just as deflated by the OTT reaction. It was therefore heartening to see Dave Jones and Peter Ridsdale today to a more balanced view, one of the few times I've seen that anywhere.


Jones said, "The club with the police and all the authorities that were involved did a fantastic job on the day but what more could the club have done. We haven't seen anybody come up with any fresh ideas. One fool's actions seems to have taken all the headlines - and that's wrong. Thankfully the referee was OK... we made our feelings clear to him that it wasn't right."


Dave Jones also made the wry observations that a linesman was hit by a coin in last night's Birmingham v Wolves match yet the outcry over that has been muted to non-existent, a contrast to a clamour from some for Cardiff to be deducted points which is plainly ridiculous.


Peter Ridsdale also made his point on the matter, ""We've got CCTV evidence and therefore we've now identified an individual who threw a coin, we believe it's the individual whose coin hit the referee, it's a disgrace, it's unacceptable, it makes you sick because obviously we spend a lot of time at Cardiff City trying to do the right thing. Today was always going to be a high-profile game, you don't expect idiots to do that, people like that have no place in football and certainly no place at Cardiff City."

Cardiff City Supporters' Trust condemned the "mindless idiots" who threw coins and said the club should not be penalised for the "actions of a tiny minority".

The FAW have begun an enquiry and it has been revealed that 28 coins were found around the pitch on the Bob Bank Terrace section. It is believed one person threw a pocketful but others did as well, the club have vowed to use CCTV to catch and ban all offenders. Meantime, a 24 year old season ticket holder from Pontypridd has been charged after being identified to stewards and police by other supporters.